Fantastic Beasts 2 starts filming, plot details revealed!

My fellow Potterheads, I hope you’ve had a grand old time celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Some of you may be sad that there’s no other major Potter event coming soon, but never fear, for filming has officially started on Fantastic Beasts 2!

J.K. Rowling has once again penned the script, and director David Yates will be returning to the fold as well. The movie will open in 1927, a few months after the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Grindelwald has escaped the clutches of the MACUSA and is busy “gathering more followers to his cause — elevating wizards above all non-magical beings.”

The official announcement on the Warner Bros. website continues:

“J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.

The film expands the wizarding world, moving from New York to London and on to Paris. There are also some surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.”

Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler return as Tina, Queenie and Jacob respectively, but there are some new and exciting additions to the cast. Warner Bros. have added Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange (having previously only been shown in a picture Newt carries with him) and Callum Turner as Newt’s brother Theseus (described as a “war hero and Auror”). We’ll also see the return of real-life Potterhead Ezra Miller as Credence, who “makes a mysterious return”, as well as Claudia Kim (last seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron).

I’m still sceptical about what sort of plot JKR is going to weave. I still haven’t forgotten how annoyed I was at the first movie (see our review), and I still think that casting Johnny Depp was a massive mistake. But dammit, I just can’t seem to quit this beast of a franchise.